Welcome to a discussion about taxes. I hope this will prove to be informative, provocative and maybe even a little educational.   Remember, these are my opinions, based on years of experience with the IRS, both inside the agency, and as an attorney representing those with tax issues.

Perhaps you have read about the legislation in Congress to restructure the IRS. A new oversight Board is to be created with authority over collections and law enforcement activities. Also, a number of new taxpayer protections are proposed, including shifting the burden of proof to the IRS in civil audits under the appropriate circumstances. I am wondering, however, if Congress has put the cart before the horse.

Let me explain. I do not know what your experience may be, but I find the IRS computer system to be in dire need of being fixed. For example, assume that one receives correspondence from the IRS on day 1 and responds the very next day. My inside sources tell me that it takes 6 weeks for the IRS to input taxpayer correspondence into its computers. Notwithstanding this fact, however, the computers are programmed to send out the next nasty letter four weeks from the first letter.

That is, the second IRS letter goes out even before the most diligent individual's reply is posted on the IRS computers. Is there something wrong with this picture, or what? Or, look at the instances in the newspapers where taxpayers are receiving IRS bills for billions of dollars. How can this be allowed to occur? And, neither of these instances takes into account the many instances where the IRS simply loses correspondence altogether. I personally have two of these situations right now.

My thought is that the very first thing that needs to be fixed is the IRS computer system. I would venture to guess that this would eliminate at least half of the problems that get the public so upset. Once the computer system problem is solved, it seems to me that one can address remaining concerns to see whether the problems are systemic or isolated instances. In this respect, I would charge the new IRS Board to move aggressively toward this goal.

Another thing that really bothers me is the composition of this new IRS Oversight Board. I am not particularly concerned about the fact that one member comes from Treasury, one member is the Commissioner, and another member is from the IRS employee union. No, what bothers me is that the 6 lay persons on the Board are each to be paid $30,000 per year plus expenses, and are prohibited from practicing before the IRS for at least one year after his or her term on the Board expires. My question is who exactly can afford to serve on this Board? Retired executives? The very rich perhaps?

It certainly excludes tax practitioners who are confronted with IRS problems on a daily basis, and most likely the middle class who bear the brunt of IRS audits. Hopefully there will be some means of broad input so that the Board can take into account a wide range of views, and not just those inside the Washington Beltway.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE, AND YOU SHOULD NOT CONSTRUE THIS AS LEGAL ADVICE. NO ATTORNEY CLIENT RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN FORMED BY THIS POSTING.